Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana
(SAN), has said the ‘no work, no pay’ policy by the Federal Government, is not
applicable to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), who
are currently on strike.
Falana said the FG acting through
the National Universities Commission (NUC), lacks the powers to direct
vice-chancellors to seize the salaries and allowances of striking lecturers.
The FG on November 29, directed
all vice-chancellors of federal universities, to ensure that members of ASUU
who are currently on strike are not paid their salaries.
But Falana has said the
government was not properly advised for “resorting to a desperate measure of
not paying the workers.”
This was contained in a statement
signed by the legal luminary titled: “No work no pay’ policy is not applicable
to ASUU” on Sunday.
According to Falana, the federal
government referred to “extant rules” to justify the ‘no work, no pay’ policy;
a directive anchored on section 43 (1) of the Trade Disputes Act which provides
that “any worker who takes part in a strike shall not be entitled to any wages
or other remuneration for the period of the strike.
“Otherwise, it would have
realised that even under the defunct military junta the application of ‘no work
no pay’ rule, threat to eject lecturers living in official quarters,
promulgation of a decree which made strike in schools a treasonable offence and
the proscription of ASUU did not collapse any of the strikes called by ASUU,”
he said.
Falana said the latest strike has
complied with the provisions of section 31 (6) of the Trade Disputes
(Amendment) Act, 2005.
He said the law does not punish
acts which are lawful in any democratic society.
He also stated that section 43(1)
of the Trade Disputes Act, cannot be invoked to justify the seizure of the
salaries and allowances of members of the ASUU, who have decided to participate
in an industrial action that is legal in every material particular.
”For the avoidance of doubt,
section 31 (7) of the Trade Disputes Amendment Act provides that anyone who
takes part in an illegal strike commits an offence and is liable upon
conviction to a fine of N10,000 or six months imprisonment or to both fine and
imprisonment,” Falana added.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com